European patent application No. 19,388 describes a process for preparing the above phenates and phenols from a compound having the formula: ##STR2## in which X and Y have the meanings given above. The process disclosed in European patent application No. 19,388 consists of reacting a compound of the formula (II) with an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal hydroxide in a binary solvent system requiring both an aprotic polar solvent having a dielectric constant of about 30 to 70 and a non-nucleophilic hydroxylated solvent. For example, the cosolvents must be present in the reaction at a ratio in the range of about 1 to 30 parts non-nucleophilic hydroxylated cosolvent to about 100 parts of the polar, aprotic solvent.
The process described in European patent application No. 19,388 process is relatively time-consuming and somewhat complex, as it requires at least two solvents.
It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide a process for preparing phenates and phenols of formula (I) having a significantly simpler solvent system.
Another object of this invention is to provide a process for preparing phenates and phenols which is not time-consuming.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a process giving high yields of compounds having formula (I).
Still another object of this invention is to provide a process which is highly selective for the desired products.